One of the perks of subscribing to my newsletter is that you get to ask me questions. I’ll try to answer absolutely everything, and a while back, I answered several questions for one of my readers.
Then, I realized it makes more sense to answer them one by one. So this answer is cheating in a sense; it’s not a brand-new question and not even a complete new answer, but a question and answer pair wrapped into a spectacular regifting effort. So this blog post is all about answering the question:
Do I really need to buy a pair of hearing amplifiers?
To someone who’s never looked into hearing amplifiers, this may seem like an odd question, like asking if you should buy shoes in a pair. When you’re shopping around, the question makes sense, though. Most manufacturers on Amazon, for example, sell their hearing amplifiers individually. You buy one hearing amplifier at a time, and if you want a pair, you have to specifically order two.
I’m not sure why it’s structured like this (probably because it makes the product look cheaper), and I know most manufacturers also offer the option of buying a pair. In fact, fancier manufacturers like Neosonic and Otofonix only offer their hearing aids in pairs. And for good reason.
Why buying a pair of hearing amplifiers is best
Starting to wear hearing amplifiers is a small shock to your brain. Your brain needs time to adjust to all these ‘new sounds’ it’s no longer used to hearing. But at the same time, your brain is wired to hear those sounds. In fact, it’s wired to hear it in stereo. The reason you should buy a pair of hearing amplifiers is the same reason you’ve got two ears: your brain is wired to hear and process sounds that way.
If you start off with one hearing amplifier, you’re retraining your brain to receive and process sounds from one side. When you’re happy with your experience and buy another one, you’d start the whole training over again.
Just so you know, I was skeptical at first (because of course the manufacturers tell you you need a pair), but the science simply adds up. If you want to get the best experience, you need to start with a pair.
Conclusion
I hope you got something out of these answers, too. If you’d like to ask your own question, please subscribe to my email newsletter below and send me an email: